What kind of season did the players who moved to new places in the active player draft a year ago have?

In the active player draft held in December 2024, each Pacific League team acquired one player. Now that one season has passed, how are the players who were transferred in the previous year's active player draft performing?

This time, we will introduce the performances recorded in 2025 by six players who transferred to Pacific League League teams in the 2024 active player draft. We will look back at the numbers each player achieved in their new home, and also look forward to the success of the players who will be transferred in this year's active player draft.

Kengo Yoshida (Fukuoka Softbank → Hokkaido Nippon-Ham)

　Like Kengo Yoshida, who also joined the team through the 2023 active player draft, Shun Mizutani transferred from Fukuoka Softbank to Hokkaido Nippon-Ham at a young age. Expectations were high for him to make the same progress as Mizutani, and he recorded a high batting average of .417 in the exhibition games, earning his first spot on the opening day first team.

After the season started, he hit three Home Run in 17 games in April, posting a consistent batting average of .255 for the month. Expectations were high for a full-scale breakthrough, but in May, he played in 17 games with just one Home Run run, posting a batting average of .216 for the month. His batting average in June was .200, and in July, it was .154. He hasn't played in the first team since July 16th, and finished with four Home Run and a batting average of .217 in 47 games.

Daichi Shibata (Tokyo Yakult → Tohoku Rakuten Eagles)

　Daichi Shibata pitcher In the three years he spent in Tokyo Yakult, he pitched in only two games, but in July he made his first appearance in his new home in Tohoku Rakuten Eagles. In his second appearance of the season, on July 9, he pitched 2 inning innings closer against no runs opposition, marking his first professional appearance win.

After a brief stint in the second base, he was promoted back to the first base in mid-August, and in three of the four games he pitched in August, he pitched over 1.1 inning and showed pitch that he was willing to step over inning long relievers. In six starts, he posted a ERA 2.08 ERA, but his 6.23 ERA BB left him with some control issues, and he finished the season without pitching a game, his last appearance coming on August 23. He finished the season without pitching a game.

Taiga Hirasawa (Chiba Lotte Marines → Saitama Seibu Lions)

​Taiga Hirasawa, who will be entering his 10th year as a professional in a new environment, was one of the main candidates for second baseman base following Shuta Tonosaki 's conversion to third base. He was expected to live up to those expectations and start the season on the first team, but unfortunately was removed from the roster on March 28th, the day of the season, due to acute back pain, and missed the opportunity to make an impression.

He returned to the lineup and was promoted to the first team in May, but was unable to produce results, hit in 10 At Bat and being demoted to the second team again. He was promoted for the second time this season on July 16th, recording his first hit since the transfer, but that was his only hit of the season, and he also walked zero Walk, failing to demonstrate his signature batting eye. He struggled batting-wise, with a season batting average of .059, appearing in just 17 games.

Masami Ishigaki (Chunichi → Chiba Lotte Marines)

　Masami Ishigaki made his first appearance of the season on April 2nd, going 2-At Bat hit 3, but was hit in the next two games and removed from the first-string roster. He was promoted again in June during the interleague games, and played all infield positions, pitching with no errors and showing solid defense, but he struggled batting-wise from June onwards, going hit.

In the end, hit this season were hit in his debut game for his new team on April 2. He walked four Walk in his limited playing time and showed improvement in his batting eye with an on-base percentage of .333, but he was unable to ride the wave of younger players being promoted and was unable to take advantage of the lack of a solid regular infield.

Keisuke Honda (Saitama Seibu Lions → Orix Buffaloes)

　Keisuke Honda pitcher closer runs games in the exhibition games but missed out on making the opening day first team. He made his first appearance since the transfer on May 11, but gave up two runs in that game and was removed from the roster after just two appearances. Despite his poor start, he was promoted again in June and closer six runs games as a long reliever, and as of July 19, ERA had improved to 1.54.

However, in a game on July 26th, he gave up seven inning in one runs and collapsed, ending the regular season without being able to return to the first team. This season, Orix Buffaloes has had a series of injuries to their relief pitchers, so it is unfortunate that pitcher Kei Honda, who has a track record as a setup man for Saitama Seibu Lions, was unable to function.

Taiga Kamichatani (Yokohama DeNA → Fukuoka Softbank)

　Taiga Kamichatani pitcher was late due to undergoing right elbow joint cleaning surgery in February before the opening, but when he returned to action in May, he pitched well in the second team with ERA 2 points, and made his first appearance after transferring on August 26th. He went clean runs pitch in his first three matches and was earned runs 1 in 6 inning at the end of September 7 with a ERA of 1.50.

However, he suffered a large number of runs in two consecutive games, 5 runs (earned runs 4 in the game on September 11 and 4 runs in the game on September 17, and was canceled from the first team registration. He returned to the first team at the end of September, but in the game on October 5, which was the final game of the season, he was unable to throw 2/3 innings 1 hit 1 Walk and 1 inning. Due to the lack of stability at ERA 6.92 per year, he ended up pitching in 8 games in his first year of transfer.

Will the players transferring in this year's active draft be able to shine in their new environment?

In the 2023 active player draft, four players - Mizutani, Takehiro Hasegawa pitcher pitcher Suzuki, and Yuta Nakamura pitcher transferred to Pacific League teams and performed at a certain level. Unlike last year, this season was a struggle for players who joined Pacific League teams.

Will the six players featured in this article be able to bounce back in the upcoming season? And will the players who will be transferred to Pacific League League teams in this year's active player draft be able to shine in their new home? Let's keep an eye on the future performance of these players who have been given new opportunities, from next season onwards.

Written by Ryota Mochizuki